Egg-tester.



PATENTED; 001". so, 1906;

' G. KNUTTGEN.

EGG TESTER.

- Al rmornon rum) 11.13.1005.

MODEL.

PATENT OFFICE.

GERHARD KN UTTGEN, OAKTREE, NEW JERSEY.

EGG-TESTER.

Specification of- Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 30, 1906.

Application filed March 13,1906. Serial No. 249,844. flodel.)

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, GERHARD KNUTTGEN,

a resident of Oaktree, in the county of Middlesex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inEgg-Testers, of which the following is a specification.

'My present invention relates to a device for indicating whether an eggis fresh or not and also showing whether it is moderately good, so thatone may know whether it is a new-laid eg or at least fresh enou h to eatboiled, -"or i only suitable for cooklng, or if unfit for any kind ofuse.

The'objectof the invention is to rovide an apparatus suitable for thehouse old or store, where it is necessary to test eggs without anyspecial scientific knowledge or skill on the part of the operator. videdsuch an instrument that is simple to.

of degrees.

manufacture and can be sold at a reasonable price, durable, sufiicientlyaccurate for the above-named degrees of quality of the eggs, and havingbut one movable part, and so less likely to get out of order.

Accordingly the invention consists, without pointing out the various scoes which are attended to in the claims, of a cam, one. arm having anegg-holder consisting of two forks and a spring and the other arm being.a counterpoise and at the same time a pointer, 1, a horizontal arbor forthe beam, the coun-; terpoise being heavier than the other arm, a'

e in the path of the pointer and suitably sca marked to indicate variousqualities of eggs,

the holder-arm being lighter than the counterpoise to the extent thatwhen a new-laid egg is placed'into the holder and the whole of theabove-named elements and the egg submerged in water the pointer willpoint nearly vertically u ward; but if the egg is bad the pointer wilpoint ninety or more degrees from the vertical and for intermediatequalities the pointer will rest between those limits sectional ,view ofthe :whole ap aratus, in-

cluding the vessel of water, and t e egg itself which isshown ap lied tothe tester for determining its qua ity. The instrument is therefore in adifferent phase from the nor- Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the main rtof the testing apparatus, and it is that mal.

I have pro- The egg-shells should be intact.- By referring to thedrawings, Figure 1 is a.

part which is for use in a vessel of water, the 1 positions of the partsof the device being nora cltizen of'the United States of America, and

mal and the view in Fig. 1 being a front ele- ,vation. Fig. 3 is afragmentary view of one of the bearings.

The mechanical construction, illustrating the manner of carrying out theinvention in practice, consists of a vessel 1, containing water 2, and abalance having the following elements: abase 3 for resting on the bottomof the vessel 1, an u right 4, sn ported by said base, a scale 5,liaving gra nations from the top B C D E F on the left of the centralvertiand F. on the right, these divisions being located at the peripheryof the circular scale 5, an arm 6, hangin down and outward from the topof the uprig t 5, an arbor 7, horizon.- tal and having its bearingscarried, respectively by said upright and said arm 6, the bearmgs beingnum ered 8 and 9, the former consisting of a hole 8, in which is onepivot 10, and the other bearing being a slot with the bearing-surface.at the lower end, the slot being curved from the horizontal to avertical direction, as indicated in Fig.3.

On the upper side of the arbor 7 is an eggholder consistin' of twoforks112 and 13 at about right ang es to each other and each aboutforty-five degrees to a vertical and fastened together and to the arbor,as shown at the screw14. From between the tines of one fork thereextends a circular s ring point in both directions, as A aroundtowardthe other fork, thereby orming means for holding the egg up against thestiff forks, and the egg is thereby adjustable to and fro slightly throuh the circular spring and yet supported e ectually. This spring is seenat 15.

On the opposite side of the arbor 7 from the egg-holder is acounterpoise 16, pointed and terminating opposite the scale graduations,and when rotated passing by the graduations of the scale 5. Screws 17serve to hold the arm 6 to the upright 4:.

I will now describe how to operate the a whole apparatus.

First take the balance out of the water 2.

Now insert an egg in the spring-holder 15 12 right of the spring when inwater; but if bad, or middling. The device must be so constructedthat'the weight of the egg plus the weight of the egg-holder will holdthe pointer at zero in air' and, if the egg is newlaid, somewherebetween A and A in water.

If the egg is bad, the needle will then go to somewhere in theneighborhood of between "E and F. More particularly if new laid thepointer will locate itself from O to A if the big end of the egg is atthe the egg is simply what maybe called fresh the pointer will standbetween A and B. If good enough for eating as a boiled egg or poached,the pointer 16 will go between B and C. If it is fresh enough to besuitable for cooking in cake, pudoings, &c., the pointer will standbetween C and D. If the egg is stale, the pointer will stand between Dand E. If the egg is still less fresh and in the condition generallycalled bad, the pointer will stand between the letters E and "F.

If the larger end of the egg stands at the left of the spring 15, thenthe pointer will travel toward the letters A B C, &c. This phenomenon isdue to the air-filled space in the larger end of the egg.

If the e g is still worse in quality, the ointer wilI rotate and pointnearly to the owest point of the scale.

For large eggs, such as goose-eggs, I provide a separate and largerdevice; but two sizes are all that need be furnished on the market toanswer all purposes. A single size will suflice for all hens eggs.

I claim as my invention 1. An eg -tester consisting of the combinationof a vessel, a liquid therein, a balancebeam submerged in the liquid,one arm of the beam being an egg-hold er and the other arm acounterpoise greater than the egg-holder in weight, a horizontal pivotfor supporting said beam, and a scale along the path of the outer end ofsaid counterpoise, said eggholder being adapted to hold an egg in suchposition that its major axis is located in a plane to which the axis ofsaid pivot is perpendicular,

2. An egg-tester consisting of the combi nation of a vessel containing aliquid, a base for standing on the bottom of said vessel and insidethereof, an upright supported by said base and having bearings thereon,an arbor having horizontal pivots located in said bearings, arms of abalance-beam extending from said arbor and entirely submerged in saidliquid in all rotary directions of said beam about said pivots, one armof said beam being pointed, the other arm being an egg-holder and ofless weight than that of the pointed arm, said egg-holder being adaptedto hold an egg in such position that its major axis is in a plane towhich the axis of said pivots is perpendicular, and a scale along thepath of the point of said pointed arm, for inoicating the quality of anegg placed in said holder,

3. In an eg -tester, the combination of a vessel containing water, andmeans submerged in said water, for holding eggs of different quality atdifferent depths and at different angular positions in said water, saidmeans being controlled by the buoyancy of one end of each egg, the eggsbeing tested successively and only one at a time, said means consistingof a pivotally-mounted holder for the eggs.

4. In an egg-tester, the combination of a horizontal arbor, anegg-holder attached to one side of said arbor, for holding an egg withits major axis in a plane at right angles thereto, a counterpoise in theform of a pointer, and a fixed scale along the path of said pointer,said pointer being governed by the gas in one end of an egg in saidholder, when the whole device is immersed in water.

5. An egg-tester consisting of the combination of an arbor, anegg-holder attached to one side ofsaid arbor, for holding an egg withits major axis in a plane at right angles thereto, a counter oise in theform of a ointer attached to t 1e other side of said ar or, an uprightcarrying one of the pivots for said arbor, an arm extending from the topof said upright and carrying the other bearing for said arbor,horizontally opposite said firstnamed bearing, and a base-plate for said111 right, said pointer being governed by tie greater buoyancy of oneend of the egg over that of the other end, when the whole devicetogether with the egg is immersed in water.

6. In an egg-tester, the combination of an arbor, and an egg-holderattached to one side of said arbor and having two straight arms for theegg to rest against, and having a curved spring extending away from saidarbor, for surrounding said egg and pressing the same between andagainst said arms, the relations of the various parts being such that aplane in which is located the axis of said arbor bisects said springthroughout its length and passes between said arms.

7. In an eg -tester, the combination of a vessel containing water, meanssubmerged in said water for holding an egg at a height and at an angularposition in said water dependent upon the quality of said egg andcontrolled by the variable buoyancy of one end of said egg, and a devicefor indicating the position of said egg in said water, said meansconsisting of a pivotally-mounted holder for the egg.

8. In an egg-tester, the combination of a horizontal arbor, anegg-holder attached to one side of said arbor, for holding an egg withits major axis in a plane at right angles thereto, a pointer, and ascale, one of the two lastnamed elements being attached to said arbor,said pointer and said scale being relatively being determined by the gasin one end of the egg, when the'egg is under water.

9. In an egg-tester, the combination of a vessel, water therein, and adevice submerged in said water and consisting of an egg-holder and tworelatively movable elements, one of said elements being carried by saidegg-holder, and one of said elements being a scale and the other apointer, the position of said egg-holder being governed by the rotativeefi'ect exerted onv a horizontal axis at right angles to the major axisof a submerged egg held in said holder, by said egg.

10. In an egg-tester, an egg-holder consisting ofgthe combination of apair of straight parallel arms, another similar pair of arms at aboutright angles to the first pair, the two pairs diverging from each other,and a curved spring extending from between the arms of' one pairoutwardly and toward the space between the arms of the other pair, forsurrounding an egg and pressing it between and against said pairs ofarms 11. An egg-tester consisting of the combination ofarotaryegg-holder for holding an egg, Water acting on the egg'in theholder for moving the major axis of theegg from the horizontal line toan angle thereto, and means for indicating the "angle.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name and afiixed my seal this 4thday of March, 1905.

GERHARD KNUTTGEN.

Witnesses:

NATHAN MARKOWITZ, I MILFORD B. FERGUSON.

